Hi, I’m Laura and New Denizen is an independent media company. I always strive to maintain a high level of transparency and earn your trust as a reader. Here is the New Denizen ethics policy, which are the rules and practices that I follow for coverage across my platforms.
Editorial Best Practices
Accuracy
Presenting you with correct and factual information is of the highest importance to me, and I aim for 100% accuracy. If I am made aware that something is not correct, an update or correction will be issued as soon as possible.
Independence
I maintain my own editorial guidelines, publishing schedules, and retain final say in what I share with the New Denizen community.
Editorial coverage is never subject to outside review, edit, or influence before publication. This means restaurants, chefs, PR firms and the like do not see this coverage prior to publication.
Anonymity
I am not an anonymous writer and creator. Total anonymity is nearly impossible as an active member of the Denver restaurant community.
How does that affect my dining experience at restaurants? While I generally take measures to arrive anonymously, I am occasionally recognized. However, I believe the best places provide the same level of service to every guest, regardless of who they are. I rely on you to let me know if there is ever a wide gap between your experience and mine. I take that feedback seriously when evaluating all future coverage.
Being identifiable also aids my reporting; there is less friction when requesting interviews or information when chefs and teams know I am a real person and not a spammer or scammer.
Sustainability
As a one person operation, I need to set boundaries on the types of coverage I focus on:
- I support and admire the work of investigative journalists, but I cannot take on investigative stories myself due to the legal risks involved.
- Formal restaurant criticism is not currently a part of my coverage and I do not publish full restaurant reviews at this time.
- I do not drink alcohol. The only alcohol-centered businesses I cover must have notable NA options or food programs.
Transparency
Paid Partnerships, Sponsorships, and Advertisements
Taking on select paid opportunities is part of the New Denizen business model. I’m not yet at a point where a completely reader-supported model is possible.
I never take on paid work, sponsorships, or ads from local and independent restaurants.
I generally partner with restaurant-adjacent services and industries including travel boards, trade associations, multi-member organizations, hotels, arts orgs and nonprofits, government entities, festivals, and food brands. Work with larger regional or national restaurant brands is done on an extremely limited basis.
All paid work is disclosed.
Paying partners and advertisers have no control over New Denizen editorial content. Materials directly related to paid marketing work (e.g., commissioned IG post or reel) may be sent for review and minor changes, but all paid work published on New Denizen platforms is subject to my final approval.
Hosted Meals and Media Events
I prefer to independently cover the cost of all of my meals. However, I sometimes accept invitations for hosted (i.e., comped) meals and media events.
I take guidance from the last published version of the Association of Food Journalists ethics code, which acknowledges that many businesses “aren’t financially equipped to absorb the costs associated with assignments,” and states “all comps must be held to the highest level of scrutiny: A journalist should not accept a comp if he or she does not firmly believe it’s essential to his or her reporting or broader culinary education.”
I am selective and intentional with hosted meals. I ask myself the following questions when evaluating an invitation:
- Is this a restaurant I would normally visit on my own?
- Is there a newsworthy or noteworthy angle that aligns with my normal editorial coverage and brand?
- Would my audience be interested?
When accepting, I never guarantee coverage, positive reviews, or specific deliverables. Content facilitated by a hosted meal or media event is only published if it meets my editorial standards and aligns with my current work.
I also want to mention that nothing is ever “free.” Even if my meal is hosted, I am working. I spend time traveling to the location, photographing and filming (virtually all the photos/videos I post are taken by me and 100% original work), and asking the staff questions about the food and the restaurant. I also pay the tip to the waitstaff (based on the full value of the meal).
I then come home and edit photos and videos, make graphics, do additional research on the owners, chefs, and related entities, and eventually write a story or useful caption. I sometimes conduct interviews to round out the story. This entire process usually takes many hours, sometimes days.
Disclosures
When I publish coverage related to paid work or a hosted meal, you will know it. Here’s what to look for:
Paid Partnerships, Sponsorships, and Advertisements
Paid work will always be marked as “sponsored” (or similar language) and clearly marked to distinguish it from editorial content. Some examples:
- IG stories: “#sponsored” visible text on the image
- IG posts: Paid partnership label added and partner label hashtag included at the beginning of the caption (e.g., #BrandNamePartner)
- Blog or newsletter post: Short one-two sentence description identifying the post as sponsored content.
Hosted Meals or Media Events
I include a disclaimer on posts dedicated to a single restaurant that was facilitated by a hosted meal or media event. Here are a few examples:
- IG stories: #hosted or #mediaevent visible text on the image.
- IG and blog posts: Short one-two sentence disclaimer in the caption or at the end of the post stating that my visit was hosted or I attended a media event.
I don’t plan to include a disclosure every time I mention a restaurant I’ve ever had a hosted meal. This mainly applies to “best of” lists since the coverage may appear many weeks or months after the comped visit. Most of the time I have revisited the restaurant on my own.
Anything else?
I welcome your feedback on this ethics policy and how it might be improved. Please use my contact form to send in your thoughts.
To keep organizations and individuals accountable, I encourage you to read the ethics policies of the creators and publications you follow. If they don’t have one, ask them to consider publishing one.
Published April 30, 2026